Can parents protect kids from asthma and eczema?

UC Science Today

Can parents protect their children from developing asthma and eczema? Michael Cabana, a professor of pediatrics at the University of California, San Francisco, believes it could be possible if parents follow these recommendations very early in their children’s lives, starting from birth. “Longer duration of breastfeeding might be helpful, avoiding the use of antibiotics is also important and it seems to be a beneficial effect of vaginal delivery." Cabana’s recent study also showed that positive health effects of probiotics might be overstated, despite a widely accepted belief that they help prevent eczema or asthma in kids. Cabana says researchers need to take a closer look at children’s microbiota. “I think as we develop better tools to understand microbiota and how that microbiota evolves and what is a normal microbiota in a normally developing child I think that is the type of background information we still need to continue and develop."